Over the past several years scientists have consistently shown that formal musical training, such as learning to play an instrument, can improve cognitive performance. At the behavioral level, music expertise or training is associated with improved performance in other cognitive domains such as language, attention, intelligence and motor skills. These “positive transfers” are possibly explained by findings which show that music training modifies brain areas related to various cognitive skills. This may be especially true in regions responsible for language, namely, planum temporale, Heschl's gyrus and the inferior frontal gyrus. Similar to language, music is a symbolic representation of meaning and requires time-frequency processing by the auditory system, deconstruction of sounds into components, and auditory discrimination for words transmitted vocally.
Previous work has identified several factors that may be responsible for reading and language impairment (LI) in children with low intelligence. Various auditory-processing deficits, related to both temporal and pitch information, have been implicated. Impaired pitch processing within natural speech may contribute to deficient phonological representations in LI children that may, in turn, lead to a deficit in reading skills. It has been demonstrated that audio-visual training improved the level of performance of LI children, and normalized their brain wave activity associated with language processing.
A landmark study by Dr. Overy (Overy, 2003) found that a musical remediation program with LI children showed a positive effect of musical training on both phonologic and spelling skills. This study supports the rehabilitative potential of musical training. Forgeard et al. (2008) conducted a longitudinal study with normal-reading children and a pilot study with LI children. Their results indicated a strong association between musical discrimination abilities and language-related skills. In children with LI, musical discrimination predicted phonological skills, which in turn predicted reading ability. Taken together, the findings of Forgeard and Overy suggest that music intervention that successfully strengthens basic skills of auditory perception in children with language impairments may also remediate some of their language deficits.
Brain imaging can show brain areas that are influenced by music stimuli and tasks. Structural MRI studies have shown anatomical differences between the brains of musicians and non-musicians. For example, a study by Schlaug et al. (1995) showed a link between musical expertise and structural changes in the brain. The study explored whether the mid-sagittal area of the corpus callosum, which is involved in the coordination of movement, is influenced by musical expertise (in this case, in keyboard or string instrument players). Results showed a significantly larger anterior portion of the corpus callosum in musicians than in non-musicians. Early and intensive training in keyboard and string players may facilitate increased and faster communication between the brain's hemispheres in order to perform complex movements with both hands.
Other studies have also demonstrated structural differences between musicians and non-musicians' brains, finding significant differences in the planum temporale (related to verbal memory processing and absolute pitch), the posterior band of the precentral gyrus (related to motor processing), the corpus callosum (related to cross-hemisphere communication), the anterior-medial region of Heschl's gyrus (related to auditory processing), the inferior frontal gyrus (related to executive functions such as attention and language), the inferior lateral temporal lobe (related to auditory processing) and parts of the cerebellum (related to motor processing).
These brain areas are involved both in skills related to music processing and are also relevant to skills that are related to language, memory, auditory detection and discrimination processing, and other skills that are central to many sensory and cognitive processes of more generalized tasks. Cognitive training that relies upon music-related exercises should also benefit non-musical cognitive skills.
Traditional training that is intended to assist a user master playing a particular musical instrument may be beneficial, but may require years of effort in order to realize proficiency. Learning to play a musical instrument may be frustrating, expensive, and require attention and commitment that exceeds many users, especially young children.
The current invention can provide advantages over other types of training, such as traditional training on an instrument. By being designed to provide sensory and cognitive training with music-based exercises which are designed to focus on practice of particular skills related to, for example, attention, sound discrimination, sound template matching, and auditory memory, users may efficiently obtain generalized sensory and cognitive benefits. The training may produce larger benefits than music lessons because it is designed to be more engaging, fun and entertaining, to the user while reducing potential levels of frustration. The intention of the current invention training is to leverage positive transfer to provide sensory and cognitive training to users with these and other advantages, as will be described.